This invention relates to the field of portable toilet and urinal devices for children and adults, pediatric urinals, and disposable toilet aids for children. There are various products available that aid in a restroom emergency when there are no restrooms in proximity, or to help with the concern of germs when using a public restroom.
Public toilets do not offer clean, sanitary settings for answering the calls of nature. Splatter, spills and accumulated filth coat the toilet and the walls and floors of bathroom stalls. These conditions pose extensive problems for young children particularly, as they lack the balance, dexterity and experience to make use of the facility without touching these soiled areas. Many products require traveling with a large apparatus and cleaning it when at home. Other products, like toilet seat covers, do not ensure a child or adult will not touch filth and germs in public restrooms and serve no purpose when a proper restroom is unavailable.
Similar prior inventions have been described as an aide in toilet training, a toilet surrogate where none is available and a toilet avoidance measure for times when available toilets and stalls have been rendered unsanitary from improper use or inadequate cleaning.
One urinal, Cheng's “V-Cup”1, is lacking in several important regards.
1—The V-cup has a flat bottom construction such that it cannot be folded down into a compact carrying size. In fact, this device does not appear to be compactible at all. Its size and shape prevent it from being tucked into a pocket, and most gentlemen do not casually carry satchels or briefcases. Fathers on outings with little girls or very young boys could either walk around carrying the V-Cup by hand, leave it in the car (where it may or may not be not readily available), or tote it in some form of pouch. Many women carry purses or day bags, but such accessories may not be large enough, or have the available space with regard to other items already being routinely carried, to stow the V-Cup. Mothers that carry diaper bags for younger siblings not yet potty-trained may have room in these bags, but may nevertheless not appreciate the additional bulk of the rigid V-Cup.
2—The V-Cup's pointed edges on the top slope may cause discomfort when in contact with skin.
3—The V-Cup's method has the user place the device between their legs, hold it in place by squeezing the legs, and steady it with one hand while urinating. This technique could prove problematic for young girls. Young children lack the arm reach and dexterity to securely hold the device in place without bending over. This forward-leaning stance leaves the child balancing precariously and susceptible to sway or fall, resulting in a spill, splash or other messy mishap. Most young children lack the mental focus, motor control, muscle development, coordination and balance to properly perform this task. Even with an assisting parent, keeping the child in a more upright position presents less risk in terms of avoiding spills and falls.
Prior inventions possess complex features and/or sophisticated processes that may increase the cost and present a complicated appearance. These prior inventions may be confusing or intimidating, especially to young children prone to fearing or rejecting unfamiliar objects. A complicated-looking urinal or toilet may intimidate or unsettle the erratic sensitivities of a young child.
Refers to: Sun—US2004/0064112 A1, Wu—US2007/0270716 A1, Cross—US 1993/5243712 A, Sullivan—US1963/3099017, Breece—US1965/3200415.
Prior inventions may involve the use of costly and comparatively bulky absorbent granules, gels or liner materials. These additions in form and function do not necessarily improve the product because they also include real drawbacks, such as added bulk, extra weight and increased costs of production. The absorbent materials provide minimal benefit, in that, in the vast majority of cases, the used receptacle may be discreetly emptied, and therefore rendering the absorbency feature irrelevant. Even in standstill traffic, it would be easy to open the car door and empty the contents onto the ground, without posing health or sanitation risks due to the relative sterility of urine. The situations that might arise where someone would be stuck holding a filled receptacle of urine are so rare as to not justify the added bulk and expense of absorbent materials as a rule.
Refers to: Sun—US2004/0064112 A1, Carter—U.S. Pat. No. 7,996,930 B2, Hills—US2010/0175179 A1.
Prior inventions feature top apertures that do not adjust easily (or at all) in size and/or shape, limiting their versatility and applicability to the broad range of human anatomy. Very small children and those who toilet train very early on, compared to peers, can require a receptacle fit markedly different from the average child. Similarly, heavy-set children with thicker thighs or slender children with thinner thighs will have different fit requirements, with different contact points and pressure, than either the average child or the very small child. Because of this, prior inventions that pop open to a standard/fixed size and form without the ability to easily adjust the top opening wider or narrower can be difficult to use with many children. Adult women of all shapes and sizes will experience the same configuration divergence, diminishing the suitability of a standard, non-adjustable device.
Refers to: Cheng—US2008/0034481 A1, Sun—US2004/0064112 A1, Cross—US1993/5243712 A, Breece—US1965/3200415.
Prior inventions present heavier, bulkier alternatives that greatly reduce their portability and stowability. Some are so bulky and heavy that they would require special accommodations for carrying. There are many occasions where gentlemen travel with little more than car keys, and women (alone or with children) carry only small- to medium-sized purses. The inability of many of the prior inventions to stow neatly, quickly and unobtrusively in a pants pocket, small purse, or glove box is antithetical to the on-the-go, modern lifestyle.
Refers to: Sun—US2004/0064112 A1, Carter—U.S. Pat. No. 7,996,930 B2, Hills—US2010/0175179 A1, Thomas—US2008/7334273 B2, Gara—US2006/0150312 A1, Aguila—US2012/8117681 B2.
Prior inventions make use of a soft bag of some sort as the urine containment receptacle. The urine collects at a relatively vertical drop, placing the containment bag between the legs of impatient, wriggling toddlers. The slightest bump could push the side(s) of the bag in, having no stronger supporting structure around it, and slosh any urine not yet absorbed by the liner in a fountain. Even older children can have a difficult time standing completely still. More, devices that collect in a vertical-drop fashion to a receptacle positioned between the legs, regardless of the strength of the receptacle puts the collected urine directly between, and in too close proximity to, the very things the receptacle should avoid contact with: children's legs. Collection away from the body would be a preferable alternative. Even adults are susceptible to this kind of accident, particularly if using the urine receptacle in transit (e.g.—plane, train or bus) where jostling during urination is likely. Air turbulence in flight could cause a sudden lurch to the side, where both legs meet in the middle, crushing the receptacle and hurling the fluid out the top.
Refers to: Cheng—US2008/0034481 A1, Hills—US2010/0175179 A1.
Prior inventions do have collapsing, folding and stowing features, yet manage to remain still bulky, weighty, and expensive. They additionally do not lend themselves to a speedy or clean process. Any device requiring the user to sit, or squat over a receptacle, held or placed on the floor, could result in lower body clothing to be lowered nearly to the ankles, where it can then come into contact with dirty floors. Positioning the body and maintaining a balanced posture over a small surrogate toilet or urinal, while keeping clothes away from dirty surfaces, requires more time and effort than other methods. An inquisitive, inattentive child further compounds this problem, as they are suddenly in position and within hand's reach of the dirty floor. Additionally, neither adults nor children may use such squatting or seating devices discreetly They must find a place away from trafficked areas where toilet use does not garner personal embarrassment or outward offense.
Refers to: Carter—U.S. Pat. No. 7,996,930 B2, Gara—US2006/0150312 A1, Bailey—US2000/6047414 A, Thomas—US2008/7334273 B2.
Prior inventions offer neither compact size nor disposability, making them burdensome to carry and maintain. These devices cannot be unobtrusively carried, nor disposed of after use, and must be cleaned before using again. These labor-intensive methods do not conform with today's fast-paced, on-the-go, modern lifestyle. Additionally, what cost savings may be realized by using a non-disposable item over a multitude of disposable ones, may come with greater costs incurred in convenience lost, time lost and additional effort expended to use and maintain.
Refers to: Thomas—US2008/7334273 B2, Myers—US2008/7363661 B1.
Numerous prior inventions designed to aid or enable female urination feature one or more of the following characteristics: lightweight, foldable, portable, stowable, disposable, discreet, and affordable. However, these prior inventions function as funnel-type conduits for urine, rather than capture/collection devices, and serve no purpose for solid excrement or vomit. This shortcoming poses several problems for small females. First, some toilet-trained young girls remain too short in stature to use a funnel-conduit with a public toilet because the edge of the toilet stands taller than the outer, lower end of the conduit. The child would have to stand on the seat or be suspended over it in the arms of the parent, while attempting to simultaneously hold the device in place, remain steady and accurately direct the flow of urine. If the user cannot stand slightly above and over the toilet basin edge, proper usage becomes difficult. Second, even taller children and adults must position themselves very near the filthy toilet, thereby becoming susceptible to inadvertent brushing of hands or forearms against unsanitary surfaces. Third, in both the aforementioned first and second regards, the user would lower or remove clothing to properly use the device, increasing the exposure of bare skin and outer clothes to the unsanitary surfaces. Even an adult female must get close enough to the toilet that she risks brushing her lower clothing against the toilet seat or bowl. Fourth, use of these prior inventions requires that the user be standing over a toilet, or outdoors in a location where the urine flow draining to the ground is of no consequence. With young girls, bladder awareness and control may not be fully developed. These young girls may have sudden, immediate urges to relieve themselves while lacking the control to wait for a suitable time and place to do so. This urgency places a tremendous amount of stress on the child, at the same time panicking the parent that seeks to avoid “an accident.” In the times these emergency calls of nature occur in a car, or other locales where urination can be impossible, uncouth, or dangerous, the conduit device would be of no use without some kind of additional container available to collect the draining urine. Lastly, adult women also receive additional benefit from the present invention over prior inventions, for the same reasons stated in the fourth aforementioned regard. Women occasionally need to relieve themselves while far away from a toilet or suitable outdoor ground. Moreover, women contending with mild incontinence might be at such a distance away that they cannot reach the restroom or suitable ground in time to use the funnel-conduit device.
Refers to: Filsouf—US2002/6434757 B1, Montakhabi—US2010/7694819 B2, Oprandi—US2012/8221367 B2, Mottale—US2002/6460200 B1, Cross—US1993/5243712 A, Cicio—US1995/5408703 A, Cicio—US1998/5742948, Rudolph—US2009/0089919 A1.
A young girl on an all-day outing with her mother might need to use the restroom several times, in addition to any restroom visits the mother would require for herself. A mother of two girls and a young boy could easily have upwards of twenty-five restroom visits away from home in a single month. The costs of disposable items can add up quickly, making affordability an important aspect of disposable urine receptacles; however, it doesn't automatically follow that disposable receptacles should sacrifice minimum levels of performance to achieve affordability. Foldable, disposable receptacles that appear to be very affordably produced may nevertheless suffer inferior levels of performance in other important areas. An affordable disposable device should offer simultaneous, satisfactory performance in ease and speed of use, convenience, ergonomics, size, and utility across a variety of locations or situations. Any prior inventions not meeting these key performance parameters while maintaining affordability may not provide suitable benefit.
Refers to: Wook-Joong Shin—US2006/7086097 B2, Aguila—US2012/8117681 B2, Mottale—US2002/6460200 B1.